La Caja: Part Two

Step Four: Send La Caja (cont.).

Today we head back to Mérida in hopes the post office is really in the airport, but first we take a break at the Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Celestún, a large coastal wetland reserve and wildlife refuge.  Their is a bridge over part of the reserve on the way out of Celestun.  We find a tour place right at the base of the bridge and hop into a boat to gently chase birds around the reserve and mangroves.  The road from Mérida to Celestún is called the Flamingo Way because of the vast numbers of flamingos found at the reserve during certain parts of the year.  We are just a tad early in the season and the water is low, so we don't see loads flamingos but we do see some and loads of other birds.  It is a nice tour and I think we are getting some great pictures despite it being an overcast day.

We are taking a different route to the airport which is making Nicole very nervous.  We lost connection, but the blue line still seems to be mirroring what we are seeing.  We are trusting the blue line.  

We make it to the airport with no issues and said good bye to Sparkita.  We ask about the post office.  The internet lied.  There is no post office in the airport, but we are told there is one at the bus station we are going to next.  Again, all lies.

There isn't anything in the station but we are told there is a FedEx around the corner.  Nicole runs off to investigate while I watch the bags, and she returns in about 30 minutes.

She is irritated and still holding the box.  Nicole found the FedEx no problem.  Proceeded to fill out the paperwork, has to open up the football and display its contents and finally gets to the bill.  The cost to send it was more than the value.  It didn't seem right sending it, so Nicole and the FedEx employee wrap the box back up.  The box is coming with us to Chetumal.

We load up on the bus, after a quick inspection of la caja, with no regards the the rest of our luggage and are on our way to Chetumal.  The ride is more or less uneventful, but still an experience.

The bus has monitors to show movies and the sound is pumped through the entire bus; no headphones necessary.  The movies are a mix of American movies dubbed in Spanish, Mexican movies, and a random sprinkling of Spanish dubbed Japanese Anime. 

The bus driver, who can obviously not watch the movies, bored, and apparently deaf turns, on the radio; no headphones necessary.  While other passengers, displeased with the movie selection, play games or movies on their personal devices; again no headphones necessary.  We have a perfect cacophony of languages, movies and music to ones ears like Stravinsky's Tritones.

For Nicole and I, we are tuning out with a bottle of Tequila and our own movie; headphones required.

We are well beyond the halfway point and the majority of people are passed out and things have settled down, just in time for "No Escape".

I haven't seen the movie before and not sure I can really say while watching it in Spanish I am seeing it now. A couple of things I can say are a.) the opening scene is wildly inappropriate for the current situation, and b.) Owen Wilson throws children building to building with a lot of people around him rooting for him to come up short.

The gist of the opening scene includes Owen Wilson, and I assume his family, riding a bus in a foreign country where American's are not welcome and everything about the ride looks dodgy.  Of course as the opening scene closes and the title introduction starts, our bus comes to a stop, late at night, in a remote part of Mexico.

I am not saying I am especially concerned, but it does have me thinking, and of course nothing from the movie happens in my current reality.  One person is waking up and getting off the bus and shortly we are rambling on to watch the rest of the film where American's are being chased for their lives in a foreign country.  

We arrive safely to Chetumal with no issues, but I still have to ask the questions:  Is that movie the best for the means of transportation?  Is there no other option a bit more appropriate?  Is this intentional and someone's inside joke? It would be like showing "Alive" while flying over the Andes, or watching the Titanic on a cruise ship.

It is late, and I am searching for water taxi's from Chetumal to San Pedro, Belize safely from our hotel room.  I find two providers.  One clearly states which days it runs and it is not tomorrow.  The other, like the first, runs every other day, but this one unlike the other, does not say which days it runs.  

We are both tired and it is clear that we are not going to figure this out tonight and we will need an extra night in Chetumal.  With that decision made, we make tomorrow's list of objectives: 1.)  Send a box , 2.) Figure out the water taxi schedule, and 3.) Find a cord for my phone.